BJP to apply Bengal booth strategy for poll hattrick in UP

Lucknow: Recapitulating the strategy it successfully deployed in West Bengal, BJP is set to roll out a detailed ground-level poll plan to be executed by 1.6 lakh booth-level committees across Uttar Pradesh in the run-up to Assembly elections.

BJP implemented the laser-sharp strategy of managing around 80,000 booths in Bengal elections where it registered a historic win.

The plan was worked out by the master strategist and BJP national general secretary Sunil Bansal. Bansal, along with the then party UP in-charge Amit Shah, is often credited as the key architect of BJP's win in 2017 UP Assembly elections.

BJP sources said the UP unit is in the process of completing the verification of booth-level committees, which were recently restructured as part of the organisational overhaul.

A senior UP BJP functionary said a detailed plan will be laid out at the booth level after approval from the party high command.

The plan, sources said, would highlight the achievements of the Modi and Yogi govts while exposing the shortcomings of the opposition, mainly the Samajwadi Party and its ally Congress. BJP will specially focus on opposition’s recent stance to stall the constitutional bill advancing women;s reservation to scale up its outreach among women voters.

In addition, the party is planning a pointed focus to counter the opposition’s Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak (PDA) narrative, which dented the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

In doing so, sources said, BJP plans to create the dual narrative of comparing Yogi govt’s performance with that of the previous Akhilesh Yadav govt.

“It is all about boosting morale of the cadre and cementing people’s perception about govt and party’s ideology,” said a senior UP functionary associated with the team devising poll strategy in the state.

Sources said the verification of booth committees is not just an administrative exercise. It envisages weeding out inactive cadre, plugging organisational gaps, and ensuring loyalty and efficiency at the grassroots.

Analysts said the party is returning to its trademark strategy of hyperlocal organisation backed by centralised messaging. A sharpened focus on booth-level committees is being seen as an attempt to prioritise the last-mile political delivery in a state as complex as UP.

A senior BJP member said this could help the party control the local narrative in the rural and semi-urban pockets besides reinforcing the party’s advantage vis-a-vis its election machinery and improving voter mobilisation.

Analysts said BJP won’t be complacent in UP despite its dominant position in the state. Instead, it is preparing for a more competitive political environment amid an ever-increasing aggression of the SP and Congress.

Sources said the party is mulling pushing its 3 S strategy of Sangathan (organisation), Sarkar (govt) and Sangh (RSS). This was seen as a layered electoral strategy where political mobilisation, governance narrative, and ideological reinforcement would operate in tandem.

While the Sangathan held the key to setting the narrative and mobilising the electorate, Sarkar will bolster the image of CM Yogi Adityanath and convert his governance into sizable political capital. Likewise, the engagement of RSS at the grassroots could help the BJP scale up the ideological push and cultural messaging at the ground level.